Gilmour Doing Their Thing On Stage
David Gilmourโs team of engineers are self-confessed traditionalists. But because of the type of venues being played on his current On an Island tour, and his extensive list of backline equipment, DiGiCo D5 Lives quickly became the obvious choice. And the Gilmour team are more than happy with the results.
Front of house engineer Colin Norfield had originally wanted his system to be completely analogue. โIโd wanted to go back to basics,โ he explains. โBut every day David would come in and want to add things and I very quickly ran out of channels on the desk I was using. I realised I needed a digital board, so I decided on the D5.
Colin Norfield – Gilmour FOH engineer
โWeโre currently running 56 inputs, but if David wants to do a certain thing then there can be more, which is the beauty of the D5. Today [at the Heinkeken Music Hall] heโs added a new song and now itโs in there.โ Norfield is using outboard reverb for Gilmourโs vocal is simply because of his initial use of analogue equipment. โThere are a couple of songs where Iโve started to use the onboard compression,โ he says. โIโve been a bit limited on time, otherwise I would have also dumped the outboard gates and compressors. โThe D5 is great. It has so many facilities and itโs very user friendly, which is really good for me. I used it in Germany last year, but Iโve learnt more about it on this tour because Iโm applying myself more to it.โ
![Gilmour](http://grouptechnologies.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gilmour3.jpg)
The stage from D5 console
Production manager Roger Searle knows how important the footprint of a mixing console can be and the previously mentioned backline setup was at the forefront of his mind when equipment was being specified. โMinimalist was good at monitors,โ he smiles. โAnd the same at FOH. Weโre playing mainly theatres, so unless you want to take the complete back row out, you have to be a bit sensible. The D5 fits the bill both in its ability to do the job itโs designed for and in the footprint it takes up. Itโs very user friendly for all of us.โ Monitor engineer John Roden concurs. โI went for the D5 because of lack of space in the different venues we were playing. This and the amount of inputs we have meant it made sense to have the D5. All my effects are onboard as well.
![Gilmour](http://grouptechnologies.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gilmour4.jpg)
John Roden – Gilmour Monitors
โThe benefits of the desk are obvious from a production point of view and in terms of operation, itโs all there. I can pull anything up in front of me and Iโm using a lot of the tools you can do with digital such as the pre-set EQs. I think the D5 is a great piece of kit: itโs ergonomic; itโs easy to use; and itโs small. And the sound quality is a lot better than many analogue desks.โ